Passage of the Day - 1 Corinthians 1

1 Corinthians ³⁰ God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. ³¹ Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.” [read chapter]

The reading plan has finished Galatians and moved to 1 Corinthians - a church that has been plagued by division. Some people follow Paul’s teaching, others personally dig Apollos, some are trying to stay purists and say they only follow Christ. The tragedy is when personal preferences begin to make our decisions for us…or even worse, when we start judging or dividing over what we personally like.  We live in a world of personal preferences…church service styles, preaching/teaching techniques, worship mixes, and though each of these are not “bad” - when they receive too much attention or become a means of conflict, division, and judgmental statements.  What is the great commandment - the goal of a heart made*new by Christ? To love God our Father with complete devotion, our prayer, our thoughts, desires, and muscle and to love our neighbor.

Questions that I am thinking about:

1. What are the source of some of my conflicts with other “christians”? If it is based in personal preferences - what do I need to do to stop causing conflict and unite on the person and work of Christ?

2. What do I take pride in? The size of a church? The style of a church? What does it mean to boast in Christ and Him alone?